Determining when food which has been cooking is ready is an inexact science at best. While the outside color of the food may be used as an indicator, it is the color of the inside of the food which is often critical. This is especially true of foods such as roasts where the outside color may not reliably reflect the condition of the inside because of the thickness of the meat. One solution has involved utilization of a probe thermometer to determine the temperature within the food. However, many cooks prefer color as an indicator rather than temperature; for example, often they slice open the meat to ascertain the color therein.
It is an object of the instant invention to provide a way to determine quickly and easily the color of any part of the food. By using the invention, the cook may determine the state of readiness of a roast or steak, at one or more sites or at several depths, upon visual inspection and need not go to the trouble of cutting open the meat.
The device consists of an optical probe which transmits the color of the food. The probe is shaped to pierce the food. Its lower end has a planar surface which enables an image of the food, including its color, to be transmitted to the other end of the probe. The image transmitted may be magnified at the other end so as to facilitate viewing of the color. The probe is placed in the portion of the food that the cook is interested in viewing, and is easily withdrawn when the color has been seen. The probe may be placed at different depths of the food. Thus, if it is desired to inspect the food at additional levels, the probe may be forced deeper into the food. Advantageously, the probe will be made of Pyrex glass so that it will be heat resistant, and it will be tempered, thus ensuring its resistance to breakage.
In one advantageous embodiment, the probe is attached to a fiber optic bundle. The color of the food is thus transmitted from the rod through the fiber optic bundle and into a more convenient viewing area. With this embodiment, the fiber optic bundle may lead to a magnifier on the control panel of an oven, for example, so that the color of the food may be more conveniently viewed from outside the oven.
A further modification of the invention permits the viewing of two or more levels of meat at one time. In that embodiment, two or more rods, and if desired two or more magnifiers, are provided. One of the rods is shorter than the other and its bottom surface is turned sideward so that the surface faces the meat. The viewer may thus observe the meat condition simultaneously at a plurality of depths.
For a more complete understanding of the above and other features and advantages of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description of certain preferred embodiments of the invention and to the accompanying drawings.